Before using any of this online tenant information, please read these Overview page sections:

Understanding Landlord-Tenant Law

Tools for Tenants

Best Practices & Tips for Renters

Solid Ground Tenant Counselors are not attorneys, and this information should not be considered legal advice. To read specific laws in the Washington State Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, click on the RCW (Revised Code of WA) links throughout this site.

Tenants who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment have protections under the Landlord-Tenant Act and the Domestic Violence Prevention Act. The law offers specific definitions for each of these:

Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior (e.g., physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or psychological) used by someone to control an intimate partner. It is physical harm, injury or assault, or the fear of imminent physical harm, injury or assault, between family or household members, past or current intimate partners, or people who have a child together (RCW 26.50.010(1)).

Stalking is intentional and repeated harassment or following of another person that causes them to fear for their safety, the safety of another person, or their property (RCW 9A.46.110).

Unlawful harassmentis a pattern of intentional behavior that seriously alarms, annoys or harasses. This behavior must cause significant emotional distress, or cause a reasonable person to fear for the well-being of their child (RCW 10.14.020). Unlawful harassment also includes landlords asking for sexual favors from tenants in return for performance of the landlord’s duties (RCW 59.18.570(9)).

The Landlord-Tenant Act allows survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment to break a lease and move if necessary. Tenants needing to break their lease for these reasons must provide landlords with either a valid protection order or a report from a qualified third party regarding the incident. “Qualified third party” can include law enforcement, health care professionals, state court employees, mental health professionals, clergy members, or domestic violence/crime prevention advocates.

In addition, tenants must notify landlords in writing within 90 days of an incident stating that they have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment. The qualified third party report must include specific information about the incident. See Washington LawHelp’s Landlord/Tenant Issues for Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and/or Stalking for sample letters and a sample report from a qualified third party.

Tenants must notify landlords that they will be moving out within 90 days of a specific incident. The 90-day timeframe specifically refers to the date the incident of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment occurred – not the date the protection order was granted, nor the date the incident was reported. You do not have to provide your landlord with the name of the abuser if you do not feel comfortable doing so.

Tenants who break their leases because of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment will be released from any obligations under the rental agreement. They still must pay rent for the entire month in which they vacated the unit, but should not be responsible for any future months’ rent. Landlords should send deposit statements within 14 days of tenants moving out, along with deposit refunds, minus any damages to units beyond normal wear and tear. Survivors cannot be held responsible for damages caused to units as a result of domestic violence. However, domestic violence abusers or perpetrators may be liable for these damages.

For more information, navigate to our Deposits webpage. Any other tenants included on the rental agreement will not be released from their obligations under the Landlord-Tenant Act or under the rental agreement unless they are also survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment and follow the guidelines outlined in RCW 59.18.575.

If your landlord or apartment manager is the perpetrator or abuser, you have the right to break your lease and move out immediately without having to pay rent remaining on the lease. You must obtain a valid protection order or report from a qualified third party and deliver it within seven days of moving out of the unit. You can deliver it by mail, fax or personal delivery from a friend or relative. This report does not have to include abusers’ names, but if a landlord requests a name and the abuser was employed by the landlord, the qualified third party must provide it.

You are not required to pay rent after you have vacated a unit and delivered the qualified third party report to your landlord. You are also entitled to a refund of your deposit, minus any damage to the unit beyond normal wear and tear. A deposit statement and/or a refund must be sent to you within 14 days of your move out. For more information, see our Deposits webpage.

If the abuser lives with you: If tenants have a valid protection order against someone who is also on the lease, they can request that the landlord change the locks on the unit at the tenants’ expense. If tenants provide a landlord with a valid copy of the protection order against someone else on the lease, the landlord must change the locks and cannot give copies of the new keys to the tenant excluded from the home. The excluded tenant is not released from their obligations under the rental agreement and is still responsible for paying rent on the unit.

If the abuser is your landlord: Tenants who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment by landlords may change or add locks to their units at their own expense. Within seven days of doing so, tenants must provide their landlord written notice that they have changed or added locks along with a valid protection order or a report from a qualified third party. This report does not have to include abusers’ names, but if a landlord requests a name and the abuser was employed by the landlord, the qualified third party must provide it.

If you change your locks for this reason, your rental agreement will automatically end 90 days after the date you provided notice to the landlord, unless you notify your landlord in writing within 60 days of changing the locks that you do not wish to terminate the rental agreement. If the perpetrator is no longer an employee or agent of the landlord and does not live at the property, you must then provide the landlord with a copy of the new keys at the same time you send notice that you do not wish to terminate the rental agreement.

If you have a valid protection order against the landlord or an employee of the landlord, you do not have to send a copy of the new keys. If you do not send notice that you wish to stay in the unit, you will be released from any obligations under the rental agreement, but you do still have to pay rent for the entire month in which you vacated the unit. The landlord should send a deposit statement within 14 days of the tenant moving out, along with a refund of the deposit, minus any damages to the unit beyond normal wear and tear. For more information, navigate to our Deposits webpage.

If you change or add locks to your unit because of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment by a landlord, the landlord can only enter the unit in case of emergency if they are accompanied by law enforcement, or by giving the required written notice to enter to make needed repairs or improvements in the unit. For more about the notice requirements, navigate to our Privacy Rights webpage.

The Landlord-Tenant Act forbids landlords from terminating a tenancy, failing to renew a tenancy, or refusing to enter into a rental agreement because of a tenant’s status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment, or based on a tenant having terminated a rental agreement because of a similar incident. However, tenants who are survivors can still be evicted, not have their tenancy renewed, or be refused for tenancy by landlords for other reasons. If you have not paid your rent or have violated rules of tenancy for reasons not related to your status as a domestic violence survivor, the landlord does have the right to serve you an eviction notice or choose not to renew your tenancy for those reasons.

Tenants who do experience discrimination as a result of their status as survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment can attempt to sue their landlords in civil actions for damages sustained because of landlords’ actions. Discrimination against survivors may also be used as defense in eviction actions if landlords initiated the eviction actions illegally. For further information, see our Legal Assistance Guide webpage. You should also consider contacting your nearest Office of Civil Rights to report discrimination.

Discrimination based on gender is prohibited under the Fair Housing Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination. Under established fair housing case law, it is not legal to discriminate against people due to domestic violence history. Since the vast majority of domestic violence survivors are women, discriminatory actions based on domestic violence survivorship have a disparate impact on women. This means that women are more often negatively affected when landlords evict entire households following domestic violence incidents.

Part II of the Fair Tenant Screening Act (SSB 5568) passed in the summer of 2013, creating necessary protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Solid Ground was part of a coalition of housing advocates and tenants who worked to support this law, including the Tenants Union, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, and Northwest Justice Project. This step toward increased access to housing and fair tenant screening follows on the heels of our success passing Part I of the Fair Tenant Screening Act, which created more transparency for tenants when they apply for housing.

These new protections are critical in ensuring that survivors can access housing and secure safe and stable homes for themselves and their families. The protections say that tenant screening companies cannot disclose applicants’ status as survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Screening companies are also not allowed to knowingly disclose that tenants, applicants or household members have previously broken leases due to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking if they have followed the process outlined in RCW 59.18.575.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) outlines clear legal protections for domestic violence survivors. It states that tenants may not be denied admission to or terminated from low-income Public Housing, project-based Section 8 housing, or the Section 8 (Housing Choice) voucher program because of their status as survivors of domestic violence, dating violence or stalking.

Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and landlords must prove that there is an “actual and imminent threat” to other residents or staff on the property in order to evict a household for domestic violence-related reasons. PHAs and Section 8 landlords can divide up or split a lease in order to evict an abuser while letting the rest of the household remain.

PHAs and Section 8 landlords can ask tenants to verify that they are survivors of domestic violence, dating violence or stalking. Tenants can comply with this request by providing either police records, valid protection orders, or statements written and signed by survivors’ service providers, medical professionals, or attorneys verifying that abuse, violence or stalking occurred. Perpetrators’ names must be included in the records or statements.

Landlords or PHAs must give tenants at least 14 business days to provide this information, and they may accept other forms of verification, at their discretion. This information must be kept confidential by the PHAs or landlords unless otherwise agreed upon by the tenants, or unless the information is necessary in an eviction proceeding or required by law.

In the case of serious threatening violence from one tenant toward another, there are additional protections in the Landlord-Tenant Act. The law states that if a tenant is threatened by a neighbor with a firearm or other deadly weapon, an arrest is made, and the landlord fails to evict that tenant within seven days of the violent incident, the threatened tenant can break their lease and move.

Similarly, if a tenant is threatened by their landlord with a deadly weapon and an arrest results, the tenant has the right to break their lease and vacate the unit without any further obligation under the rental agreement. In either case, the tenant is not obligated to pay rent following the date they vacate the unit and is entitled to a prorated refund of any rent they prepaid.

It’s a good idea to obtain a copy of the police report in order to document the situation. The tenant’s deposit should be evaluated for any damages above normal wear and tear, and a statement regarding the use of their deposit should be sent to them within 14 days. For more information, see our Deposits webpage.

Domestic violence is often not easy to understand or define. The Landlord-Tenant Act defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior (e.g., physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or psychological) used by someone to control an intimate partner. It is physical harm, injury or assault, or fear of imminent physical harm, injury or assault, between family or household members, past or current intimate partners, or people who have a child together (RCW 26.50.010(1)).

Q: I broke my lease due to domestic violence and followed the legal process, but my landlord sent me a bill for damages to the unit my abuser caused. What can I do?

According to RCW 59.18.575, domestic violence survivors cannot be charged for damages caused by their abusers. Write a letter to your landlord disputing the charges and include a copy of the law. If the landlord sends you to collections, send the same dispute letter and laws to the collection agency.

Q: I do not have a protection order filed yet but I have a domestic violence advocate. Does the law consider them a qualified third party if they write a letter to help break my lease to flee my abuser?

Yes. Tenants needing to break their leases for these reasons must provide their landlords either with valid protection orders or reports from qualified third parties regarding the incidents. “Qualified third parties” can include law enforcement, health care professionals, state court employees, mental health professionals, clergy members, or domestic violence/crime prevention advocates.

Q: What are some resources and shelters for domestic violence survivors?

Tenants must notify their landlords that they will be moving out within 90 days of specific domestic violence incidents. The 90-day timeframe specifically refers to the dates of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment incidents, not the dates protection orders were granted, nor incident report dates.

Q: What can I do if my landlord is my abuser?

If your landlord or apartment manager is the perpetrator or abuser, you have the right to break your lease and move out of the unit without having to pay rent remaining on the lease. You must obtain a valid protection order or report from a qualified third party and deliver it within seven days of vacating the unit. You can deliver it by mail, fax or personal delivery from a friend or relative. This report does not have to include the abuser’s name, but if the landlord requests the name, and the abuser was the landlord’s employee, the qualified third party must supply it to them. See RCW 59.18.575 or Washington LawHelp’s Landlord/ Tenant Issues for Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and/or Stalking.

Q: If I break my lease because of domestic violence, am I entitled to my deposit back?

Tenants who break their lease because of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or unlawful harassment will be entitled to an accounting for their deposit within 14 days and a refund of the deposit, minus any damages to the unit beyond normal wear and tear (survivors cannot be held responsible for damages caused to units as a result of domestic violence incidents). For more information, navigate to our Deposits webpage.